In the early morning hours of February 6, 2019, the community of Reserve, Louisiana, was disturbed by the sound of a scream followed by gunshots. Responding to the reports, deputies from the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff's Office arrived at a home on West 17th Street to a tragic scene. There, outside her residence, they discovered 47-year-old Rechelle Hotard, a female, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to her abdomen. The coroner's office pronounced her dead at the scene, leaving a community in shock and a family to grieve a sudden and violent loss.
The investigation into Hotard's death moved swiftly. Within 12 hours of the shooting, authorities had a suspect in custody: a 15-year-old male named Orlando Sanders Jr. Investigators were aided by surveillance video and statements from neighbors who reported seeing the teenager fleeing the scene. Neighbors indicated that Sanders and Hotard were acquainted. While Sanders was known in the neighborhood for acts of vandalism and theft, the escalation to such a violent act was startling to those who knew him.
Initially charged with second-degree murder, Orlando Sanders Jr. later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. In April 2023, a judge sentenced him to 25 years with the Department of Corrections for the shooting death of Rechelle Hotard. At the time of his sentencing, Sanders was given credit for the 1,525 days he had already served since his arrest on the day of the murder. The resolution of the court case brought a measure of closure to a painful chapter for Hotard's family and the Reserve community.
